Editorial: Carbon copy

The city’s decision to not stay “carbon neutral” last week (page 1) really illustrated how the province had fallen short on delivering what was a noble, albeit unrealistic, ideal.

By signing onto the Climate Action Charter a scant few years ago, the city had tied itself to achieving a carbon neutral operation by 2012. That goal was to be met last year and time proved to be the bane of most municipalities.

It was a high bar to achieve and the City of Rossland fell well short of its mark and instead had to buy carbon offsets—by supporting carbon reducing projects—to reduce its greenhouse gas production.

The short time frame for carbon neutrality truly did not allow Rossland and every other municipality across the province enough time to trim carbon ouputs to zero. It would be safe to say that no B.C. municipality ever achieved the lofty goal, but taking the carbon credit cash and creating a reserve for actual local carbon neutral projects, which Rossland is doing, is a step in the right direction.